Foot pedal opener for garage door



y 1-965 H- WILLENBRING 7 3,181,855

FOOT PEDAL OPENER FOR GARAGE; DOOR Filed April 24, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Lou/s Henry MY/enbr/hg ATTORNEY Hal y 4, 1965 L. H. WILLENBRING3,181,855

FOOT PEDAL OPENER FOR GARAGE DOOR Filed April 24, 1963 2 he tsh et 2Louis Henry W/Wenbn'ng ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,181,855 FOOTPEDAL OPENER FOR GARAGE DOOR Louis Henry Willenbring, R.R. 4, Enid,Okla. Filed Apr. 24, 1963, Ser. No. 275,310 6 Claims. (Cl. 268-42) Thisinvention relates generally to lifting devices and more particularly toa foot operated device to start the opening movement of an upwardlymovable element such as the door of a garage or the like.

At the present time many buildings such as home .garages, automobilerepair shops, and storage buildings have heavy doors that slide or swingin an upward direc tion to an open position. While such doors may or maynot be counterbalanced, it usually requires considerable strength to.start them on their upward opening movement, and frequently the persondesiring to open the door, must stoop to reach a handle near the bottomof the door.

The main object of the invention is to provide a lever device mounted onthe door and thrusting against the floor or ground to initiate theopening movement of the .door, thus overcoming inertia and eliminatingstooping,

the device being preferably operated by the foot of the operator.

The invention further contemplates a mounting plate or member fastenedto one face of the door near the floor, a generally horizontal footactuated lever disposed in substantially parallel relation to the planeof the door and having one end pivoted to the plate for a limitedvertical swinging movement, preferably some spring means for normallyholding the lever in an elevated position, and at least one fulcrummember depending from an intermediate portion of the lever for rockingengagement with the floor, the fulcrum member being pivotally suspended.

Another object is to provide a device of the above indicated characterin which a plurality of the fulcrum members are pivotally suspended inlongitudinally spaced relation along the lever to increase the extent towhich the door may be moved upwardly by the swinging movement of thelever.

Another object is to provide a lifting or starting device for avertically movable element such as a door which may be operated fromeither the outer or the inner side of the door.

Another object is to provide a foot pedal door opening device which isof simple construction so that it may be manufactured at a low cost,which may be quickly and easily applied to garage doors having variouskinds of mounting means, and which is reliable and effective inoperation.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view, the inventionresides in the novel combination and arrangements of parts and the novelfeatures of construction hereinafter described and claimed, andillustrated in the accompanying drawings which show the presentpreferred embodiments of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the outer face of a portion of anupwardly opening door having the device applied thereto, the door beingshown in its closed position and parts being broken away;

FIG. 3 is a detail view showing another fastening means for the lever;

FIG. 4 is a detail cross section through the foot lever taken on theline 44 in FIG. 1, showing the pivotal suspension of one of the fulcrummembers;

FIG. 5.is a perspective of the mounting plate;

FIG. dis a detail elevational view of a modified form of fulcrum member;and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention inwhich the device may be operated from only one side of the door. 7

Referringmore in detail to the drawings the numeral 10 designates thelower portion of a door or other vertically movable element to belifted, 11 the frame in which the door is suitably mounted for slidingor swinging movement in an upward direction, and 13 the floor or groundline. Such doors as used in home garages are variously constructed andvariously mounted for upward opening movement; and the invention isespecially useful in starting the opening movements of such doors. Mylifting device is positioned near the horizontal center of the door andclose to its bottom. As shown in FIGS. 1-5 the foot operated lever isU-shaped, that is it has two parallel arms, one at the outer side of thedoor and the other at the inner side of the door so that the device maybe operated by a person on either side, but in the form shown in FIG. 7,the single foot lever is to be disposed on one side of the door,preferably the outer side.

The device comprises a mounting plate 15, at least one foot lever 16pivotally supported from said plate and one or more fulcrum pins 17which are pivotally suspended from the intermediate portion of the leverand are adapted to engage the floor or ground. The plate 15 may be ofgenerally rectangular shape with openings 18 for screws 19 to fasten theplate to one face of the door. Along one edge of the plate is an uprightright angularly bent flange 20 with a vertical slot 21 through which thelever projects to limit its swinging movement. At the opposite edge ofthe'plate is a similarly bent flange 22 with apertures 23 to receivehooks on the ends of one or more coil springs 24 which may be used tonormally hold the lever 16 at the top of the slot 21. Only one spring isshown and the hook on its other end is engaged in one of the openings 25in the lever.

At the free end of the lever is an enlargement or foot piece 26. and itsother end is suitably fixed to a cylindrical pivot 27 rotatably carriedby ,the plate 15. When the device is to be operated from either side ofthe door, a second foot lever 28 may have the cylindrical pivot 27integral with its inner end, the pin being of a length to projectthrough the door, as shown in FIG. 2. Insuch case the inner end of thelever -16 may be fitted over a square or flat faced projecting end ofthe pivot 27 or it may have a transversely extending cylindrical opening29 to receive the end of the pivot27 and be fastened thereto by atransverse pin 30 or similar means. 'The pivot 27 rotates in acylindrical bearing tube 31 which is of greater length than thethickness of the door 10 and which projects from the plate 15 around anopeniing 32 therein.

Surrounding the projecting end ofthe bearing tube or sleeve 31 is awasher 33 fastened by screws 34 to the iner face of the door. It will benoted that the two lever arms 16 and 28 are parallel and project in thesame direction close to the opposite sides of the door, and togetherwith the pivot portion 27 form a single U-shaped lever.

One, two or more of the fulcrum members or pins 17 may be provided onone or both of the levers l6 and 28, but I preferably use two or threeon the lever 16 as shown in FIG. 1. These fulcrum members may be metalrods with right angularly bent upper ends 35 pivoted in downwardlyprojecting apertured ears 36 on the lever and fastened by cotter pins37. The lower ends of the fulcrum pins or rods are preferably providedwith enlarged portions or heads 38 having rounded lower faces for arocking engagement with the floor or ground. If desired the heads 38 maybe faced with rubber or provided with rubber cups 38 as shown in FIG. 6.These fulcrum members are longitudinally spaced along the intermediateportion of the lever, the one closest to the pivot 27 being of a lengthto just contact the floor when the door is closed and the lever 16 is inits normal elevated position, as seen in FIG. 1. While the fulcrum pinsmay be of equal length, FIG. 1 of the drawing shows the pin 17 farthestfrom the pivot 27 slightly shorter than the others. When either of thelevers 16 or 28 is pressed downwardly, the lever 16 will fulcrum on thatfirst member 17 which will have a slight rocking movement as the doorbegins to move upwardly, and as the downward pressure on the levercontinues the succeeding members 17 will successively serve as thefulcrum for the lever, as the door continues to move upwardly. Thedevice thus overcomes inertia and starts the opening movement of thedoor. After the door has been moved upwardly from above two to sixinches by depressing one of the foot levers, it requires very littleetiort to continue the movement to a fully opened position. The use of aspring to normally hold the lever in its elevated position is desirablebecause otherwise, when the foot is removed from the lever, its free endand the fulcrum members 17 would drop below the bottom edge of the door.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 only one lever is used and it may bedisposed on either side of the door. In this form the foot lever 16which corresponds to the lever 16, has its inner end rotatable on acylindrical pivot stud 27 that is welded to the mounting plate 15*. The

lever may have a cylindrical opening to receive the pivot and may berotatively retained thereon by a Washer 40 and cotter pin 41. In otherrespects the construction and operation of this form of the inventionare the same as the first described form.

It will be noted that the device may be quickly and easily applied to agarage door. In the single lever form it is only necessary to properlyposition the plate 15 and screw it on the door, while in the two armlever form it is only necessary to bore a hole in the door for thebearing sleeve 31, then screw the plate 15 and washer 33 to the door,and then assemble the two arm lever.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,it will be seen that novel and advantageous provision has been made forcarrying out the objects of the invention, and while preferences havebeen disclosed, attention is invited to the possibility of makingvariations within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. A foot operated device for starting the opening movement of avertically movable garage door or the like, comprising in combination,

(a) a foot operated lever,

(b) means for pivotally mounting one end of said lever on a verticallymovable door near the bottom of the latter with the lever extending in agenerally horizontal direction and swingable vertically in a planesubstantially parallel with that of the door,

(c) upper and lower stop means coacting with the lever to limit itsswinging movement,

(of) spring means normally holding the lever in engagement with saidupper stop means, and

(e) at least one fulcrum pin pivotally suspended from an intermediateportion of the lever and having its lower end rockably engageable withthe floor, said pin serving as a fulcrum for said lever when its freeend is depressed by the foot of the user.

2. The device of claim 1 in which there is a plurality of said dependingfulcrum pins of approximately equal length arranged in longitudinallyspaced relation along the intermediate portion of the lever, said pinshaving their upper ends pivotally connected to the lever and their lowerends successively engageable with the floor during the downward movementof the lever.

3. The device of claim 2 together with a second depressible leverdisposed at the opposite face of the door and arranged in substantiallyopposed relation to said first mentioned lever, said pivotal mountingmeans mounting both of said levers in laterally opposed relation forswinging movement in unison.

4. A foot operated device for starting the opening movement of avertically movable garage door or the like, comprising in combination,

(a) a mounting plate adapted to be fixed to one face of a verticallymovable door near the bottom of the latter,

(b) a foot actuated lever,

(c) an upright slotted flange on said plate to serve as a guide for saidlever and to limit its swinging movement,

(d means pivotally mounting one end of said lever on said plate, saidlever extending in a generally horzontal direction and being verticallyswingable in the slot of said flange,

(e) a plurality of fulcrum pins pivotally suspended from theintermediate portion of said lever, said pins being of approximatelyequal length and arranged in longitudinally spaced relation along saidlever for successive engagement with the floor as the free end of saidlever is moved downwardly, and

(f) a coil spring connected at one end to said plate and at its otherend to said lever for normally holding said lever at the upper end ofsaid slot.

5. The device of claim 4 in which said means for pivotally mounting saidlever comprises a cylindrical pivot to one end of which said lever isfixed, a cylindrical bearing sleeve fixed to one face of said plate andadapted to extend through the door, together with a second depressiblefoot lever fixed to the other projecting end of said pivot and disposedalong the face of the door opposite to that of said first mentionedlever, the two levers being disposed in laterally opposed relation.

6. Foot operated apparatus for initiating vertical opening movement of avertically movable member relative to a fixed surface, comprising avertical mounting plate adapted to be secured to one vertical face ofthe member near the bottom thereof;

a rigid lever pivotally connected at one end with said plate for pivotalmovement about a horizontal pivot axis normal to said plate, the pivotaxis of said lever being spaced a given distance from the lower edge ofsaid plate;

stop means carried by said plate for limiting the upper extent ofpivotal movement of said lever beyond a generally horizontal firstposition;

spring means connected between said lever and said plate forcontinuously biasing said lever toward the said first position inengagement with the stop means;

and a plurality of longitudinally-spaced fulcrum means carried by saidlever intermediate the ends thereof, the first one of said fulcrum meansadjacent said pivot axis defining a first fulcrum point at an elevationlower than that of the pivot axis when said lever is in the said firstposition, the remaining fulcrum means defining, in the direction fromsaid first fulcrum means toward the free end of said lever, successivefulcrum points of successively higher elevations than said first fulcrumyoint when said lever is in the said first position, said fulcrum meansbeing so arranged on said lever that upon downward pivotal movement ofsaid lever, the successive fulcrum points, in the direction from saidfirst fulcrum means to the free end of said lever, successively engagethe fixed surface to progressively lift said member from said fixedsurface.

References Qiterl by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 951,344 3/10Soucek et al 26842 X 5 2,966,706 1/61 Christensen 20-19 FOREIGN PATENTS105,007 12/26 Austria. 1,235,539 5/60 France. 10 1,128,096 4/62 Germany.

HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

1. A FOOT OPERATED DEVICE FOR STARTING THE OPENING MOVEMENT OF AVERTICALLY MOVABLE GARAGE DOOR OR THE LIKE, COMPRISING IN COMBINATION,(A) A FOOT OPERATED LEVER, (B) MEANS FOR PIVOTALLY MOUNTING ONE END OFSAID LEVER ON A VERTICALLY MOVABLE DOOR NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE LATTERWITH THE LATTER EXTENDING IN A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL DIRECTION ANDSWINGABLE VERTICALLY IN A PLANE SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL WITH THAT OF THEDOOR, (C) UPPER AND LOWER STOP MEANS COACTING WITH THE LEVER TO LIMITITS SWINGING MOVEMENT, (D) SPRING MEANS NORMALLY HOLDING THE LEVER INENGAGEMENT WITH SAID UPPER STOP MEANS, AND (E) AT LEAST ONE FULCRUM PINPIVOTALLY SUSPENDED FROM AN INTERMEDIATE PORTION OF THE LEVER AND HAVINGITS LOWER END ROCKABLY ENGAGEABLE WITH THE FLOOR, SAID PIN SERVING AS AFULCRUM FOR SAID LEVER WHEN ITS FREE END IS DEPRESSED BY THE FOOT OF THEUSER.